WoodsieFL
Community Member
I’ll keep this build thread short and sweet. I currently live in a 50 gallon mixed reef lagoon system.
this system is about six years old and my sand has completely ticked me off which has cause neglect which has in turn caused it to all turn to limestone due to my dosing schedule. SO…. I have elected to break this 50 down and move on to the next step in my fish tank evolutionary journey, a 20 gallon AIO Nano with dry rock and bare bottom. I’m over the sand life. I want to add flow where I want without restrictions. I’m over the sump life and reaching over pipes to change filter floss and media. I’m over garbage cans full of water and buckets and hoses. Pretty much, I want a five gallon Homer bucket and one 1/4 inch hose to comprise my water change kit.
One BRS Black Friday order, one Wayfair fish tank stand and $900 later here we are. EZPZ reef tank life. NOW…. I understand this will most likely be the most difficult skill level tank I’ve ran due to the complexity of the bare bottom lifestyle, but that’s alright because like everyone else on this forum, I’m the best reefer ever. This again will be a mixed reef. Here’s a list of the equipment.
IM Nuvo20
AI Prime
IM Mighty Jet 300gph DC pump
Nero 3
Apex Jr
Apex Dos running my ATO with half saturated Kalk on head 1 (400mL per day)
Alkalinity only on head 2 (10mL per day)
Media basket on one side / Sock on the other
And that’s all she wrote. Those dosing amounts are complete guesses by the way that’s kind of what I’m predicting. I run that same setup on my 50 dosing wise and it works like a dream.
CYCLE
So here is where it gets interesting. I cut a bio brick in half and threw it in one of the rear chambers. I threw three additional bio blocks in the other side. All of these are dry. The display area holds approximately 15 pounds of Caribsea Life Rock. I dose 15mL of microbacter and purple helix everyday. I ghost feed once each day. I’m three weeks in and my ammonia is steady zero. Green chromis went in a few days ago and I just kicked on the lights to start growing the diatoms. Pods will be added one week from today (So four weeks into the cycle). I fully expect an extended ugly phase due to this lack of sand and negative space aquascape but that’s how it goes. If anyone is interested in the cycle on this tank just check back here as I will be adding some photos weekly since things should start getting interesting now that the lights are on. Here’s a few final photos of the setup.
this system is about six years old and my sand has completely ticked me off which has cause neglect which has in turn caused it to all turn to limestone due to my dosing schedule. SO…. I have elected to break this 50 down and move on to the next step in my fish tank evolutionary journey, a 20 gallon AIO Nano with dry rock and bare bottom. I’m over the sand life. I want to add flow where I want without restrictions. I’m over the sump life and reaching over pipes to change filter floss and media. I’m over garbage cans full of water and buckets and hoses. Pretty much, I want a five gallon Homer bucket and one 1/4 inch hose to comprise my water change kit.
One BRS Black Friday order, one Wayfair fish tank stand and $900 later here we are. EZPZ reef tank life. NOW…. I understand this will most likely be the most difficult skill level tank I’ve ran due to the complexity of the bare bottom lifestyle, but that’s alright because like everyone else on this forum, I’m the best reefer ever. This again will be a mixed reef. Here’s a list of the equipment.
IM Nuvo20
AI Prime
IM Mighty Jet 300gph DC pump
Nero 3
Apex Jr
Apex Dos running my ATO with half saturated Kalk on head 1 (400mL per day)
Alkalinity only on head 2 (10mL per day)
Media basket on one side / Sock on the other
And that’s all she wrote. Those dosing amounts are complete guesses by the way that’s kind of what I’m predicting. I run that same setup on my 50 dosing wise and it works like a dream.
CYCLE
So here is where it gets interesting. I cut a bio brick in half and threw it in one of the rear chambers. I threw three additional bio blocks in the other side. All of these are dry. The display area holds approximately 15 pounds of Caribsea Life Rock. I dose 15mL of microbacter and purple helix everyday. I ghost feed once each day. I’m three weeks in and my ammonia is steady zero. Green chromis went in a few days ago and I just kicked on the lights to start growing the diatoms. Pods will be added one week from today (So four weeks into the cycle). I fully expect an extended ugly phase due to this lack of sand and negative space aquascape but that’s how it goes. If anyone is interested in the cycle on this tank just check back here as I will be adding some photos weekly since things should start getting interesting now that the lights are on. Here’s a few final photos of the setup.
